CAUSE OF BAD SERMONS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 2930, 27 October 1925, Page 5

CAUSE OF BAD SERMONS

IfACK OF TRAINING TO BLAME,

ART OP DELIVERY NEGLECTED.

The Art of Preaching, the second lecture of his series ~xon the subject of Preaching, was delivered recently by the Rev J. E. James at the Independent Church, Collins Street, Melbourne.

The lecturer said there were two types of minister. One might be a good man and a scholar, and he might be loved when not in the pulpit, but when in the pulpit he might only be endured, arid that not gladly. . Another minister might.have less ability,.b,e less a scholar, and not so good a man as the first. Yet his sermons might do their work more effectively. The difference was due to the former's failure to'recognise that preaching was an art, not only a calling, but a craft. The preacher was a public speaker, who must obey the laws and rules of public utterance, no less than the actor, the barrister or the statesman, to fulfil the. conditions of success. It was harder to bo a great public speaker than to be a great public singer, and to be- a great preacher was hardest of all., Preaching was public' speaking in its highest function, for the preacher was in 'the pulpit to persuade, not to bully, to hector, or to amuse. He was sorry to have to confess to the fact.that there were plenty of ministers wh"**dM'not.kndw the rules of public utterance ,and the laws of speech. . They had not studied, and would not study, those laws. In any theological college library the subject which seemed to have the scantiest attention was the art of public speaking. One would be lucky if one found one book on the subject in the average library of the average minister, who, if questioned, would prolmbiy say that he gave hours to thinking <xut his sermon, but none on how to deliver it, and would add that it was not his function to listen to himself—that was the other man's function. Many ministers believed no more training was necessary to. i talk in public than l,j talk in private, and they went on developing mannerisms and^otlu..1 ""nl s, and then wondered why pepole i^a not go to hear the gospel preached, Ji* preaching, the whole man was embodied, heart, mind land .body. Speaking of George Whitefield, the famous open-air pr.eacher, the lecturer asked why was the art of openair preaching not more developed in Australia, where there was such scope for it. The two great sins of preachers were laziness and professionalism, the latter a form of class distinction. On the question of how long a timo should a. sermon take to deliver, the lecturer said there was no reason for fixr ing any definite length: ' It was a piece of work to be done, and it's length deponded on how long that work; would take in doing. Most people were afraid of. long sermons. A preacher in America was invited to speak at a certain church, and on asking how long the sermon should be was told that it was a tradition in that church that no one had ever been converted after the first thirty minutes. The long sermon was one that seemed, long, and the minister seeking guidance should look not at the face of the clock but at ,the faces of the flock. It was hard for the layman to recognize the difaciilty of a minister in deciding when to come to an end. That was where the artist shone. The sermon should be as a good meal to a hungry soul.